Most Americans have recently witnessed or even experienced the myriad of problems plaguing the Obamacare site, Healthcare.gov. However, in reality, the faulty website is just a teeny tiny little glimpse at what lies ahead in the upcoming months. In fact, while some people may be blissful that they “finally got healthcare” through the Obamacare exchanges, they are soon going to discover that this does NOT necessarily mean they are actually going to receive the medical care they need when they need it, if at all.

Many hospitals and doctors argue they simply can’t afford to participate in Obamacare exchanges, and are simply saying “no” to the Affordable Care Act altogether. According to Watchdog.org, “Americans who sign up for insurance on the state exchanges may not have access to the nation’s top hospitals.”

The Examiner reports that many Americans may not even have access to their doctors anymore:

In parts of California… low reimbursement rates have resulted in a doctor rebellion, as nearly seven out of 10 doctors refuse to participate in the exchanges. San Diego broker Neil Crosby told the Examiner that: “65 to 70 percent of the providers have declined the reimbursement schedules the carriers are offering. They will not be providers in the exchange marketplace. Similarly, agent David Fear in Sacramento said, “Roughly a third of the doctors are going to be accepted in the networks.

Outside of California, the doctor shortages and issues are also becoming very similar. In Las Vegas, Larry Harrison, an agent recently said, “The ‘lion’s share’ of doctors there are staying away from the exchanges.”

New Jersey is also predicting a severe doctor shortage, as NJ.com explains:

Obamacare comes with an insurance card, but not necessarily an easy path to a doctor. Foundations and governments are pouring “grants” into the state’s healthcare system to try to alleviate the increasingly severe shortage of doctors, which is expected to accelerate. The funds are supposed to make the system more “efficient” by “re-structuring” it. However, analysts say patients in New Jersey can also look forward to much longer wait times — assuming they can get care at all.

In Virginia, broker Carol Taylor of Roanoke, Va., also estimates that “participating doctor networks (in Virginia) are shrinking by 70 percent in the exchange plans.” And from theExaminer, “Meanwhile, nationally known health insurance providers like United Healthcare, Aetna, Cigna and Coventry are staying out of the Obamacare exchange marketplaces…Other well-known companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield are in, but are sharply narrowing their networks to exclude many doctors, as well as elite hospitals…As a result, well-known hospitals like Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai, New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering and the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital will be out of reach for many exchange patients.”

Obamacare may certainly seem like the utopian dream come true for the average bleeding heart Liberal. However, in reality, it actually exacerbates one of the biggest problems with our pre-Obamacare healthcare system– doctor shortages. The Washington Policy Centerreports:

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) anticipates a shortage of 150,000 doctors in the next 15 years. Other sources predict a shortage of 200,000 doctors by 2025. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a need for 145,000 new doctors by 2018. Washington State will potentially face a shortage of 3,000 to 4,000 doctors and 24,000 registered nurses over the next 10 to 15 years.

For years the government has also controlled the number of medical schools, the number of graduates from these schools and their licensure. This has created a further distortion in the supply of health care. Government central planners are now even attempting to legislate not only the total number of doctors, but also the number of primary care physicians and the number of specialists in the country. This is as futile and absurd as the government telling people how many laptop versus desktop computers we need. No amount of information or analysis will enable central planners to know how many doctors, and of what type, the country needs.

Only through balanced market forces, ones that allow patients to control their own health care dollars, can the demand be correctly determined. The necessary and sufficient number of doctors each community needs can only be known through millions of routine, voluntary actions made in the free market.

Remove government from the licensing process and use private rating agencies or professional specialty organizations for competency determinations and to maintain physician quality.

Unfortunately, instead of looking to free-market solutions, we can always count on Progressives to look to targeting its latest obstacle (this time, doctors) and increasing the mandates on everyone. In fact, law Professor William Jacobson at Cornell Law School recently wrote, “As furious as people who have lost their private insurance are now, just wait until those ‘qualifying’ for Medicaid find out that the seeming freebie means they lost their plan, their doctor, and their health care…The result of all this will be a targeting of doctors. Forcing doctors to accept Medicaid patients will be the inevitable solution.”

So, perhaps having more physicians (who thoroughly understand the scope of the doctor crisis, and are also privy to patient-centered solutions) elected to the Senate will actually help stop the bleeding from the botched rollout of Obamacare. In fact, The Hill recently reported “eleven Republican doctors are running for the Senate, hoping that voters will see their medical expertise as an asset amid the administration’s botched rollout of ObamaCare.”

Rep. Paul Broun, a family physician running for Senate in Georgia, said, “Doctors are in a very unique position to look at the financing of healthcare…We go into medicine for one reason, and one reason only: Because we care about people, we want the people who we serve to have a productive, happy, healthy life. That’s the kind of policymaker we should have in place in dealing with healthcare policy.”

About the Author

South Carolina PolitiChick Sonya Sasser has conducted enormous research and has written numerous PolitiChick articles on topics such as: the IRS scandal, Fast and Furious, Obamacare, the erosion of personal freedoms, the unique power of county sheriffs, the Constitution versus U.N. treaties, Benghazi, terrorism, Mexican drug cartels, and various political candidates.
Sonya has also conducted exclusive interviews with: well-known gun rights advocate Nikki Goeser, Catherine Engelbrecht of True the Vote, OK Congressman Jim Bridenstine, N.C. Senate candidate Molotov Mitchell, U.S. Senate candidate Nancy Mace, Madison Rising's lead singer Dave Bray, and many other distinguished subjects. Sonya has been a guest speaker at the South Carolina Guns Across America rally and various Conservative radio shows.
In addition to her efforts to save our Republic, Sonya is a Christian, a wife, a mother, a registered dietitian, and a fashion and fitness guru. She is infamous for being 'that chick who runs a lot' and loves sharing her fitness tips with others!
Sonya is also the creator and administrator of Breakthrough Nation, a Conservative blog that reaches thousands of Patriots across the nation.
If you ask Sonya why she spends so much time on the political battlefield, her response will most certainly be, "I do it for my children." She feels it is her duty to preserve and protect those precious freedoms that have been endowed to every American by their Creator.

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